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F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin
This is the article about the video game. For the Experiment of the same name, see Project Origin. , developed by Monolith Productions for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. A demo unrelated to the campaign is currently available for all formats. The game was released on February 10, 2009, in the North American region, and in Europe on Febuary 13, 2009. __TOC__ Development The follow-up has stayed in F.E.A.R.'s existing universe, retaining the original storyline and characters, although it doesn't recognize the events of F.E.A.R. Extraction Point or F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate. The game was shown for the first time at the 2007 E3 Expo with an Xbox 360 demo. The demo footage showcased the game's enhanced Jupiter EX engine, and reveals glimpses of the plot, starting with a cutscene of Michael Becket undergoing surgery overseen by Genevieve Aristide, with unexplained complications, later revealed to be cause by Alma Wade. The game showcases a more varied level design than in F.E.A.R.. Medkits have returned from F.E.A.R.. Story The sequel to F.E.A.R. continues the supernatural suspense story of the supernatural being, Alma, whose rage against those who wronged her caused her to begin an escalating paranormal crisis that threatens to devour and replace reality with her own.5 Instead of playing as the Point Man, the game's protagonist is Michael Becket, a Delta Force operator 6 whose squad is sent in to arrest Genevieve Aristide approximately thirty minutes before the ending of F.E.A.R. The game opens with Becket experiencing a hallucination involving a ruined city, where he sees Alma walking along. As he recovers, Becket's squad arrives at the penthouse complex where Aristide lives, only to find it under assault by a black ops team of mercenaries dispatched by Armacham's Board of Directors. After saving Aristide, Becket uncovers hints of a project known as "Harbinger," which involves himself and several of his teammates. Aristide claims that Becket and his team are the only way to stop Alma, but before she can elaborate, the F.E.A.R. Point Man detonates the Origin Facility's reactor. Becket is knocked unconscious in the explosion. When he comes to, Becket finds he is being operated on by a team of doctors under Aristide, and begins seeing more visions of Alma. After he recovers, Becket find himself in a hospital deep underground, along with the rest of his squad. The hospital comes under attack by ATC clean-up crews led by Colonel Vanek, and Becket must fight his way out. While escaping, Becket receives communications over his radio from a man who calls himself "Snake Fist". On the way out of the hospital Becket finds Sgt. Redd torn up by a surgical machine. After escaping the hospital and confronting the commander of the ATC forces, Becket fights his way to the surface, encountering the reactivated Replica troops. As he moves to the surface, Becket is also repeatedly physically assaulted in hand-to-hand combat by Alma, who Snake Fist says is trying to "absorb" Becket, drawn by the psychic signal he now emits after his operation. After reaching the surface, Becket regroups with what is left of his team, many of whom have been systematically killed by Alma. Now consisting only of Becket himself, his superior Lieutenant Stokes, and Sergeants Morales and Keegan, the squad moves to nearby Wade Elementary, an Armacham-controlled school where Snake Fist and Aristide are hiding. Once he reaches the basement, Becket discovers that the basement of the school is another Armacham research facility, for a project known as "Paragon." Here, Becket discovers that Project Harbinger was an attempt to create more psychic commanders similar to Paxton Fettel without the use of alma wade and that Becket and Keegan were the most promising subjects. Project Paragon, meanwhile, is intended to condition psychically-gifted children to work for ATC. In the basement facility, Becket kills Colonel Vanek and finds Snake Fist. Snake Fist reveals himself as a researcher for Armacham, and explains that the only way to defeat Alma is to travel to an Armacham base inside a nuclear reactor underneath nearby Still Island, which houses a device that can amplify psychic power. With this device, Becket can possibly defeat Alma with his own psychic abilities. Snake Fist insists that they must leave imediatly, then presents Beckett with an experimental weapon he took from the facility. Upon taking the weapon, a Replica Assassin jumps down from the ledge and decapitates Snake fist, instantly killing him. En route to Still Island, Becket's squad is ambushed by Replica troops, and Sergeant Keegan wanders off in a daze. Becket follows and tries to recover Keegan, but is instead delayed by Replica forces. After fighting off both the enemy soldiers and more of Alma's assaults, he eventually reunites with the remainder of the squad underneath Still Island and heads for the Armacham facility. Becket enters the psychic amplifier, and as Stokes prepares to power up the machine, she is attacked by Genevieve Aristide, who explains that she operated on Becket so he would serve as a lure for Alma. Instead of destroying her, Aristide plans to seal Becket and Alma inside the device together, so Aristide can use Alma as leverage against Armacham. Alma suddenly intervenes, and Becket is sent into another hallucination, where he fights off apparitions of a maddened Sergeant Keegan while trying to activate the amplifier and destroy Alma. As Becket fights Keegan, the battle is interspersed with images of Alma raping him. Finally, after activating the last switch, Becket escapes the hallucination to find himself sealed inside the device. Suddenly, the device is unsealed from the outside by Alma, and Becket, securely strapped to the chair inside the device, is at her mercy. Instead of killing him, Alma walks up to Becket and reveals she is pregnant (as she is shown with a swollen belly; clearly indicating pregnancy). She used the psychic link forged with him, while he was effectively trapped in the hallucinations, to conceive a baby with him. Alma proves the child is his by taking Becket's hand and gently placing it over her stomach. The game ends as Becket hears the child say Mommy inside Alma's body. Demo Currently, a partial demo constructed of several settings in the game is available. In the demo, Becket is able to carry four main weapons as well as all four grenade types, and has the expected ability to slow down time. He also gets a chance to pilot a suit of Power Armour with regenerating health and infinite ammo. His own health is a more standard system, with pickups required to restore it. The demo begins in a burned out school which seems normal, but becomes more and more macabre as Becket is dragged deeper into Alma's hellish world. Eventually, Becket fights his way to the basement and escapes through a collapsed subway, and then needs to fight his way through a street and a theater. The demo features combat with Replica Soldiers and Specters, with a Replica Heavy Armor turning up at one point, armed with a laser cannon and enemy powered armor suits turning up towards the end. Also towards the end, massive balls of fire are raining from the sky onto the town; this is likely to be Alma's doing. The demo also reveals a lot about the story line; televisions and various items reveal the school was funded by Armacham Technology Corporation. Subsequent Holo-disks reveal that the school was a front to test psychic enhancements. The effects can be seen via the surroundings. In the first case study the students weren't affected substantially. This is shown by their classroom where all of the pictures on the walls are things like dogs and cats and are generally happy. The second study where it had greater effect, their classroom is macabre with various pictures of brutally murdered people draping the walls. When the explosion occurred, they were all turned into specters. The demo has some sound issues, with weapon sound effects prone to failing entirely and leaving the action oddly silent. The demo also lacks any ability to reassign controls, and uses the nonstandard (R2 for fire) layout on the PS3 controller. Design F.E.A.R. First Encounter Assault Recon, though highly praised by critics for it's suspenseful atmosphere, intelligent AI, and kinetic gunplay, was widely criticized for it's unimaginative level design, and the fact that the main horror element Alma, and her minions, hardly ever physically interacted with the Point Man. Taking these things into consideration, Monolith Productions has improved several aspects of design in F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin. With the recent changes made to the Jupiter EX engine, the team of developers at Monolith have added substantial detail and colour into the F.E.A.R. universe with carefully designed levels full of real-world objects; these can be used for cover via an action button command to flip over or slide suitable objects. The game also boasts a redesigned damage system which allows Michael Beckett to tear apart everything from cars to buildings. As for the horror element, John Mulkey, Lead Designer for F.E.A.R 2, has stated several times that Alma will "touch" Beckett more, suggesting that the physical interaction that F.E.A.R. had lacked will become an ongoing part of the storyline in the sequel. Also, the creation of a new enemy, the Remnants, will increase the amount of physical interaction between Beckett, and the forces of Alma, giving the Player a more intense experience. Trivia *See Easter Eggs for a list of in-jokes and interesting items present in the game. *For an April Fools' joke, the official F.E.A.R. 2 site announced that the next game would be a prequel to the first F.E.A.R.. Referencing criticism of the quick time events in F.E.A.R. 2, they stated the new game would consist entirely of quick time events, and would allow the player to control Alma on her swing, try not to fall asleep in Wade Elementary School, and enjoy the "Alma Ball." Category:Games